Vivian Jade Yee had never been part of a band before. But last year, the award-winning UCLA Bruin Marching Band marched right into her life.
Yee, a fourth-year geography student, didn’t make the decision to audition overnight. Upon her acceptance to UCLA as a transfer student, she received a postcard in the mail encouraging students to join the band. At first, she set it aside. But one day, as she was casually watching TV, the postcard caught her eye again. Her background in dance encouraged her to try out for the color guard.
She didn’t have any expectations for the audition and was utterly shocked when she received an email telling her that the band would love to have her.
The UCLA Bruin Marching Band – or the Solid Gold Sound, as they call themselves – has over 250 members, some musicians representing a variety of instruments and others who are the color guard and baton twirlers.
The band’s breadth of performances spans far and wide. It’s been contacted for gigs with a few famous musical groups. In 2018, it was featured in a special version of the song “Pressure” by rock band Muse. And in 2020, K-pop sensation BTS included the band in its track “On.”
But perhaps what the band is most famous for is its performances at UCLA athletic events.
“We (have to) bring the hype and set the college football atmosphere for the fans,” said Matt Espinoza, a fifth-year sociology student who is a drum major in the band.
This coming year will be Espinoza’s fourth as a drum major or student conductor, but the past year was unlike any other.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the band had developed a deep connection with some of the sports teams.
For example, it has a special relationship with the women’s basketball team, said Deborah Gallego, a third-year African American studies student who is also a drum major for the band.
Women’s basketball head coach Cori Close has ordered pizzas for the band and visited its practices, Gallego said. But student-athletes have encouraged the band too. Gallego recounted how after a women’s basketball game in 2019, two of the players recognized her personally from a class they had taken together. They came to Gallego and hugged her, a gesture that Gallego said truly attests to the strong bond between the team and the band.
But at each sporting event, the band isn’t the star of the show. Although audiences may enter Pauley Pavilion eager to watch famed athletes like Johnny Juzang or Jaime Jaquez Jr., they probably won’t know the names of the band’s musicians.
The band is aware of this.
“When you're a band, you have to blend together, almost as if you're one big instrument,” Gallego said.
But they don't believe this makes their job any less important.
“When you add a soundtrack, when you add a heartbeat to that game, it makes it all the more exhilarating,” Gallego said.
Athletes often praised the band and recognized the support the band offers them – something Espinoza found deeply rewarding.
Then came March 2020. In order to curb the spread of COVID-19, UCLA shuttered its classroom doors and evacuated students from residential halls. Attendance at athletic events was extremely limited. Kevin McKeown, the band’s interim director, represented the band at each football game.
“Our involvement as a band turned into a computer and a sampler,” McKeown said.
There was no more need to haul large instruments on a truck to sports arenas, gather the band three nights a week for rehearsals or arrange for the members to have lunch during one of their long days performing at football games. Instead, there was McKeown, pressing a button each time a play ended in order to start a recording of the band.
As for the band students, most were stuck at home with no way to gather but online. Instead of halftime shows and long hours at the Rose Bowl, there were virtual performances. But as they say in the performance world, the show must go on.
For Yee, there was one major problem that needed to be solved before the show could commence – she didn’t have any flags to use for her at-home practices.
It didn’t take the band long to solve that issue. Ken Fisher, the associate director of the band, personally delivered one to her house. The band directors drove all across California, bringing equipment to those who needed it, McKeown said.
The fact that the band staff went out of their way to make sure she could participate demonstrated just how supportive the band community is, Yee said.
During the pandemic, students in the band opted to stitch together musical ensembles through the power of video. Individual musicians recorded themselves playing their part of a song and submitted it to be included in the final product, which was posted on the marching band’s social media accounts. One of the band’s video projects was even featured on Fox Sports during a football game, McKeown said.
“We were really excited when we saw it on Fox Sports at a game. It was like, ‘Wow, look at that,’” McKeown said. “So we knew we had ways to connect with our community, even though it wasn't in the traditional way.”
Students took a lot of pride in their video projects, McKeown explained. If an individual take was not up to par with the band’s standards, it would be redone.
Despite the time and effort that went into the video projects, McKeown said, musical performances were not the band’s top priority this year – just staying connected was the most important.
“We kind of told them they could have as much band as they (needed),” McKeown said.
For some students, hopping on a bandwide Zoom call might be the last thing they want to do after a week filled with online classes and other obligations. But for others, that was exactly what they needed. Students had the freedom to choose the level of involvement they felt was best for them.
One of the band’s primary ways of maintaining student connection was through Friday social hours on Zoom. Sometimes, they would play music together, which meant band members had to mute their microphones while they played along to a recording. Other times, they invited guest speakers like UCLA coaches and athletes. Band members also created interest groups covering a wide range of topics, from hiking to social justice.
For Gallego, the online experience was bittersweet. The lack of in-person band rehearsals was tough – normally, band was one place where she could take her mind off life’s daily stressors.
But Gallego also led the group focused on social justice, which allowed her to get to know her fellow band members on a more personal level, she said. During in-person band performances, there aren’t many opportunities to talk to other students on such a deep level, she added.
“It's one thing to get to know your bandmate as a bandmate, ... but then it's another thing when you're listening to that same person talk about social justice issues that they're passionate about,” Gallego said.
And social justice is something Gallego cares deeply about. As the band’s first Black drum major, she’s discussed with band directors how to make the band a more inclusive space.
Gallego described the role as the “honor of a lifetime” and knows her leadership is impactful for younger band members.
“If you see yourself represented in leadership spaces, and that not only having representation within those spaces but also having your unique experiences and voice being brought into the conversation, it makes a difference,” Gallego said.
As Gallego adjusts to her first year as a drum major, band members who joined during the 2020-2021 school year will be learning the ropes of in-person rehearsals, performances and game days.
Faith Barrett, a second-year pre-public affairs student, has been a band member since April 2020. Upon her acceptance to UCLA in March of that year, she auditioned to be a baton twirler for the band.
Twirling in college has been Barrett’s dream since the age of 7 when she took up the sport after discovering a baton in her home garage. She grew up performing in twirling competitions, but they were never her favorite. There was a lot of pressure, she explained. She just hoped to stick it out to make it onto a collegiate level band.
She did. But the COVID-19 pandemic made that dream look a little different this year.
The school year began with an online version of band camp, where band members gather annually for two weeks of intense rehearsals. One of the highlights of band camp this year, Barrett said, was having the band announcer James Coomes make a Zoom appearance to announce the names of band members, almost as if they were performing at the Rose Bowl.
Barrett said the band also hosted a virtual version of “hometowns” – instead of visiting the places where each student grew up, they made slideshows about where they were from.
“I got to learn more about the people and see what they're interested (in), where they're from, and I don't think I would have been able to do that if it wasn't online,” Barrett said.
Barrett was also a member of the hiking interest group. Though the pandemic prevented students in the group from meeting up, they found creative ways to share their love of the outdoors online. They chatted on Zoom, sent pictures of their hikes and brainstormed ideas for potential hikes in the upcoming in-person year, such as the Hollywood sign.
Zoom wasn’t Yee’s ideal format for her first year in band, but it did have some silver linings, she said. Not going to campus allowed her to solidify the basics of color guarding in the comfort of her own home. And she enjoyed the band’s online socials, like Jeopardy! and spaghetti night, which was held by the band sorority Tau Beta Sigma.
“When I talk about it, it doesn't sound as fun as it was because I'm just talking about eating spaghetti in front of each other,” Yee said. “But it was fun because of everybody just talking to each other.”
Yee credits the band with giving her a deeper sense of school spirit and for providing her with a strong community of college friends amid the isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic – friends she is just now getting to see.
This summer, the band began to hold in-person rehearsals again, meaning Yee, Barrett, Gallego, Espinoza and other band members were all finally reunited – or meeting each other for the first time.
“It was more of a celebration than a practice,” Barrett said of the first rehearsal back.
Espinoza said he wouldn’t have been surprised if someone cried at the rehearsal.
Gallego said how, as someone who was just chosen to be a drum major in spring, the first rehearsal back meant her first time conducting the band. She was a little nervous, but her bandmates were aware and offered their support, she said. As she took to the podium and looked down on her bandmates, she felt a rush of emotions.
“I just see them smiling, and they're happy, and you could just tell that they wish the best,” she said. “And I think that's what really encompasses band because ... it's not just a musical ensemble. It's not just people that march around and then go home at the end of the night. It's a family; it's a community.”